Kaya
Kaya is a singer from Tokushima, Shikoku. He is known for his rising solo career and his collaborations with the ex VELVET EDEN members Hora (with whom he formed the two-man unit Schwarz Stein) and KALM. Biography Kaya was born in Tokushima (Shikoku) in 1982. He has two older sisters and a younger brother. Kaya claimed to have been aiming to become a singer since he sang at a local karaoke feast at the age of 3. Although no information were given about his vocal training, he confirmed to have been taking piano lessons since he was 14 and writing lyrics since she attended high school. By the age of 18 Kaya joined the Ehime-based visual rock band Meties and at the same time worked for the indies label LAST CHILD. His stage name at that time was 姫''' (Hime, japanese for princess). Meties were active in the late 90's and only released a demo tape before disbanding between 1999 and 2000. After graduating Kaya moved to Tokyo and joined another visual rock band: ISOLA. Despite being active in the visual kei scene, Kaya seemed to enjoy more clubbing and such music genres as dance, pop, hardcore and hardcore techno. In 2001, while he was still a member of ISOLA, Kaya attended a VELVET EDEN concert and kept in touch with the band keyboardist Hora since then. Sharing the same musical vision, they soon decided to leave their former bands and create a new project together which they named Rudolf Steiner. Their aim was to convey an image of digital decadence, without using acoustic instruments at all. During a concert in 2002 Rudolf Steiner were spotted by ex MALICE MIZER guitarist Mana, who was gathering some bands to do some live events. Shortly after that he offered them a contract with his own label '''Midi:Nette and became their sound producer. Rudolf Steiner changed their name to Schwarz Stein to commemorate the label change, and at the same time Kaya adopted his current change name. Over a span of two years Schwarz Stein released two full albums, several singles and became quite popular in the indies scene, opening for Moi dix Mois several times but also holding quite succesful oneman concerts. Their second single Current ranked #6 at the ORICON indies chart in November 2003 and in March 2004 the second album Artificial Hallucination managed to rank #16. However, the musical differences between the two members led to their disbandment in March 2004, followed by a one-night revival on December 15th 2004. For the following two years Kaya disappeared from the music scene, though he was told to have performed in unknown session bands. His official comeback to the music scene took place in early 2006 with the session unit another cell, a one-release only collaboration with his ex-bandmate Hora. This project helped Kaya to launch his own solo career. In fact he had his debut oneman concert at Takadanobaba AREA on June 23th 2006 and announced the release of his first single Kaleidoscope. Kaya has been supported by the help of KALM (another member of VELVET EDEN) and occasionally Hora, and despite having had a small distribution through his own record label トロイメライ (Traumerei) he managed to become quite popular in the indies scene, especially after teaming up with Sherow Artist Society band (especially Versailles) for many projects and live events since 2007. The best-known of this collaborations is the unit Node of scherzo, a sort of theatrical rock show led by both Kaya, KAMIJO and Juka. Another band who often shared the stage with Kaya was Sugar. After the unexpected success of his single Carmilla, Kaya managed to sign a contract with next music inc., a division of the major label Universal Music Japan. His major debut took place in early 2008 and was commemorated by a oneman concert titled サロン・ド・ショコラ (Salon du Chocolat) on April 29th 2008. Kaya's older sister is the anime voice actress and singer nomico, currently signed to his label トロイメライ. In 2008 Kaya even penned the lyrics for nomico's single ミラクル☆ハニー (Miracle Honey) and had her as a guest on a special concert. Band history * Meties - 199? ~ 1999 * ISOLA - 2000 ~ 2001 * Schwarz Stein - 2001 ~ March 29th 2004 * Kaya project - 2006 ~ present Session bands * Regina - an acoustic session band featuring Kaya on vocals, Shingo (Sugar) on bass, Atsuto (Sugar) on drums, 将人 (Masato) on sax and 大樹 (Daiki) on keyboards. It performed at 100 people limited Kaleidoscope vol.1 on July 7th 2008. * Node of Scherzo - 2007 ~ 2008 * another cell - 2006 * 記憶をたどってバンド (Kioku o tadotte Band) - a one-concert only session band featuring Kanoma (Fatima) and KAMIJO on vocals, MAYU (LAREINE) on guitar, Kazuno (Moi dix Mois) on bass, Kaya on keyboard and Mana (Moi dix Mois) on drums. They played the MALICE MIZER song バロック (BAROQUE) at the Midi:Nette event Dis Inferno Vol.II, held at 川崎 CLUB CITTA on December 17th 2003. * An unknown session band with ALvino members, as mentioned in the Tainted Reality interview broadcasted in October 2007. Guest appearances * Sugar - guest vocalist during the twoman summer tour 2007. * のみこ (nomico) - lyrics and production on ミラクル☆ハニー (Miracle Honey). * HIZAKI grace project - guest vocalist on the concerts from October 31st to December 24th 2007. Discography Albums Image:SS_New.jpg| Schwarz Stein New vogue children full-length (2003.06.30) Image:SS_Artificial.jpg| Schwarz Stein Artificial Hallucination full-length (2004.02.25) Image:anothercellcd.jpg| another cell another cell EP (2006.04) Image:Kaya_Glitter.jpg| Kaya Glitter full-length (2006.12.26) Image:Kaya_Hyakki.jpg| Kaya 百鬼夜行 EP (2007.07.01) Image:Kaya_Bonjour.jpg| Kaya ボンジュール！シャンソン EP (2009.02.18) Singles & Demos with Meties * 1999.03.12 RECUR to MIND tape with ISOLA * 2001.06 Egoiste Butterfly CD with Schwarz Stein * 2001.06.01 Queen of Decadence tape * 2001.11.12 Perfect Garden tape * 2002.07.31 Perfect Garden * 2003.11.18 Current as Kaya * 2006.06.28 Kaleidoscope * 2006.09.06 Masquerade * 2007.04.04 桜花繚乱 * 2007.10.31 Carmilla * 2008.04.23 ショコラ * 2008.12.24 Last Snow with Node of Scherzo * 2007.10.31 Node of Scherzo External Links Official website and blog Category:Artists